Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Reaching Out for Healing

“Jesus answered them, ‘Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.’”

Luke 5:31,32 NLT

“Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness….

Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is though a voice were saying: ‘You are accepted.’”

-Paul Tillich

We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves

could restore us to sanity.

It is not likely that anyone will visit a doctor when he is healthy. It’s only the weak and suffering who need a doctor’s care. In the past we have denied the sickness and suffering in our lives, but in Step One we admitted our problems and we accepted the fact that we could not manage our lives on our own. After all, the pain from our addictions is what has motivated us to get help. Furthermore, we have to be honest with others if we really want to recover. We must honestly admit our problems in order to get the help that will empower us to change. Only a crazy person would go to a doctor and then not be honest about what he really needed.

God is the Great Physician, the One who will ultimately heal us from our addictions. In Scripture we have a historical record of how God has healed the sick and suffering through the person and life of Jesus Christ. In Jesus, God never turned away from those in need. When people in pain came to God with their hopeful sincerity, He always responded by healing them. Jesus, in giving God’s grace, not only cured the outer illnesses, He healed internal illnesses as well. The healing that Jesus offered to others helps us to understand that we are loved and accepted by God, and that His love and acceptance is available to us even before we knew that we needed it. As God heals us internally, spiritually we receive an empowerment that helps us to heal emotionally and psychologically. Spiritual health and psychological health go hand in hand. This hand in hand kind of health is the unifying, integrating work of grace.

Today God continues to work through human beings. Just as Jesus heals us for eternity, there are people who can help heal us in our day-to-day lives. In order for us to recover from our addictions, it is necessary for us to seek out and accept help from various God-given resources like medical doctors, mental health professionals and recovery support groups. These people and organizations are the most common ways that God helps us recover from our addictions. They are to us on a day-to-day level what Jesus is to us on the eternal and spiritual level. As God through Jesus heals us internally, these people help us to see the acceptance of God, and His love and healing become a reality in our lives every day. Remember, no one recovers alone.